I was really shot after this adventure, but it was a glorious day!German was my driver, and because we had to leave so early to get to La
Paz Waterfall Gardens by eight, I tried to talk him out of stopping for
breakfast, but he insisted (“Just check this place out!”), and little did I know
that it was gonna be a “soda” that was known for its feeders!(Looking up EBird hotspots later, I think this was the Mirador la Cascada,
based on pictures of the view I found on the Internet that were identical to
mine J…)We picked up Silver-throated Tanager, the endemic Coppery-headed Emerald,
and Slate-throated Redstart for the trip!(I suspected what I was hearing was the latter, so I played the app and
he came shooting right in!)Old
friends such as Violet Saberwing and Rufous-tailed Hummingbird also showed up,
along with Clay-colored Thrush and Blue-gray and Palm Tanagers, but not the
hoped-for Emerald Toucanet.But he
spotted one of the best birds of the trip hiding “in the open” back in the
trees:a Buff-fronted Quail Dove!

View from Mirador la Cascada

What it looked like that afternoon when we returned!

German enjoys a cup of cocoa with the owner

Shooting a Green-crowned Brilliant with his IPhone

Once at La Paz he begged off going in so he could do some local birding (he
really wanted that toucanet ☺),
so he dropped me off and I explored the hummer area first, where I added
Black-bellied Hummer, both White-bellied and Purple-throated Mountaingems, and
Green Thorntail and Hermit to the list.Green-crowned Brilliants were probably the most common, but there were
also lots of Coppery-headed Emeralds and a few saberwings, but the Bananaquits
were also getting into the act!The
staff girls came out with their little hand-held feeders (as that’s one of the
big draws here), and I insisted they
hold them so I could take pictures! J
After awhile the tourists and kids started to show up, and it was a hoot
watching them feeding the hummers and
taking pictures (I smiled at the thought that this little two-year-old being
held by Daddy probably didn’t register that he was getting his life
Black-bellied Hummer and Green Thorntail in his face)!One of the things the staffers encouraged was holding the feeders in such
a way that the hummers would sit on your fingers while drinking –
that was a big hit!I got a kick out the fact that as the staffers were invariably asked to
take pictures for the tourists, they’d stick the little feeders in their pants
pocket for safe-keeping, and the birds would still come and sneak a drink! J
Even when I would put my own down on the bench long enough to do some shooting,
they’d take a “seat” on the bench themselves and sip away!

The friendly staff shows us how it's done!

No need for a telephoto lens here! (With Green-crowned Brilliant)

This Violet Saberwing will grab a sip whether I'm holding it or not!

While the staffer is occupied taking a picture for some tourists, a
Coppery-headed Emerald sneaks a sip...

Will this little guy remember his first Black-bellied Hummer and Green
Thorntail??

Making friends with a female Brilliant

After having my fill of that (I think the big group of pre-teens came in at that
point) I poked into the aviary, outside of which was a tray of fruit that was
being attacked by a group of Common Chlorospingii and a Rufous-collared Sparrow!(I gathered they left it there on purpose and it wasn’t a tray that a
keeper forgot to take in, as it was still there later…)Inside the aviary they had the famous tame toucans, Bob and Harry, so I
got my “pet fix” while warning Bob not to even think about playing with my
glasses J
(and one of the staff insisted on taking my picture while “preening” Bob)!The time in there was all too short, but other folks were coming in
wanting their turn, so I ventured into the aviary proper, thinking that I’d get
to the lower levels later (it was starting to drip), but never did; in the
meantime I shot Golden-hooded and Bay-headed Tanagers and Red-legged
Honeycreepers at the feeders (all their captive wildlife is native to Costa
Rica).

A pair of Common Chlorospingus having a spat...

Getting a "pet fix" with Bob the Toucan

After that I tackled the La Paz and Fern Trails, which looked flat on the map –
NOT!They were beautiful, going
through lush cloudforest habitat and giving great views of the roaring Rio La
Paz,
but they were all stairs!(I didn’t
think I’d need my stool as I figured a place like that, from its description,
would have a lot of benches – not along
these trails!I was
very glad I at least brought my
stick!)Down at the bottom there
was a Dipper that posed for pictures, and a Louisiana Waterthrush that came
tearing in to drive out a rival, and then he sang for good measure!(Was really surprised I didn’t bag a Torrent Tyrannulet along there…)Throughout the hike Slaty-backed Nightingale Thrushes were singing, and
at one point one even hopped out on the path!(I can see why they’d be mistaken for Sooty Thrushes, though:even though the thing was at point-blank range, it looked all dark with a
dark eye, but upon closer scrutiny you could make out paler coloration on the
underparts, plus the fact that their ranges don’t overlap…)I was thrilled to hear a Black-faced Solitaire at one point, and finally
one of the many uncooperative feeding flocks came down to eye level which
included Silver-throated Tanager and another chlorospingus, but the star of the
show was a Spangle-cheeked Tanager!
A Gray-breasted Wood Wren suddenly exploded in song from the same spot and gave
a very brief look, and at least heard the Sooty-faced Finch, so I could “tick”
off all three of the highland endemic finches!At the next rest stop (I finally started just sitting on the stairs)
heard a distant Scale-crested Pygmy Tyrant, and at another rest stop a
Slate-throated Redstart came in along with a furnarid that totally stumped me:at first I thought it was a small woodcreeper, but it then became obvious
it was one of those furnarids that like to creep around the trunks
like a woodcreeper, but it looked
streaked on the head and breast, and had a rather longish bill.In all honesty, with its rapid movements, I couldn’t tell if it was truly
streaked (Lineated Foliagegleaner) or spotted (Spotted Barbtail), and according
to the Finding Birds in Costa Rica
book, both can occur there (although he says the barbtail is more common, and I
think that’s what my friend Pat had there, too); that’s the jewel that got away!

Heading down the hill towards the river

Rio La Paz

La Paz Trail

Was time for lunch after that, so after finally finding a
restaurant that was open, got that taken care of, then went looking for the
butter enclosure, shooting a Ruddy Pigeon on top of a tree in the process.Got pretty turned around (and having to go up and down the hills constantly
was a challenge; reminded me of the San Diego Zoo...), but eventually found the place and shot some more native species and
played with their morphos; added Whitened Bluewing, Thoas Swallowtail,
White-patched and Tiger Leafwings, Gray and Variable Crackers, and what I’m
calling a Linnaean Owlet at this point to the photo list; most everything else
they had I'd actually seen in the wild already!Checked out the hummer area one last time, but it was getting more
crowded, so after shooting some things that were regularly retreating to their
perch (I had cottoned onto the fact that those make much better photos than the
ones at the feeders, as the feeders themselves reflect too much light), I headed
on up to the top.German was
already there, but he had dipped on the toucanet, so we stopped at the diner
again, and this time the view was socked in!After about 15 minutes no toucanet came in (although a Black-and-white
Warbler made an appearance), so we headed on, but as he was talking on the phone
he suddenly banged on the dashboard, hung up, and pulled over – he had spotted a
brilliant White Hawk sitting in a tree at eye level!What spotting!(Actually, he
admitted he had been expecting and looking for one along there for quite some
time…)At a gas stop down near the
bottom we picked up Blue-and-white Swallows for the trip, and nearly ran down
several Ruddy Ground Doves!